Sports
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The Hutchinson Collegian Friday, November 10, 2017
Athlete of the week
Joel Powers/HutchCC Sports Information Denzel Thomas, Dallas, uses his superior tennis shoes to gain traction and overtake the rest of the runners in the intramural distance-running event held Sept. 5 at Gowans Stadium. Thomas said he got the new shoes while on vacation.
By Lucas Barlow Sports Editor The annual NJCAA Cross Country Championship is near, with the meet Saturday in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Among the many Hutchinson Community College runners who qualified, standout freshman Jared Stark is one of them. He qualified at the Region 6 Championship in Garden City on October 30th with a time of 27 minutes, 28.1 seconds. However, Stark wasn’t always in the spotlight. Stark grew up in Augusta, where he was homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade. His mother was his teacher.
Stark Enterprise
Stark began his running career in eighth grade, when he joined a small homeschool track team known as the Wichita Warriors. The Warriors provided opportunities to kids who didn’t attend a high school. A year later, he joined the cross country team when he was a freshman. “Both of those seasons went really well, and that was about the time I started thinking maybe I could run in college,” Stark stated. After four years of experiencing success with running, Stark earned a scholarship to Hutchinson Community College, even though he was never al-
Runners going to Nationals
Women: Maggie Lambert, American Garcia, Macy Linenberger, Sarah Patteson, Saw Ahmara, Aileen Gomez, Caitlin Schlickau.
Men: Jared Stark, Connor Kaufman, Jared Stark, Frant Clothier, Jeremy Stiebens, Tony Ibarra, Kade Gerlach, Gavin Alexander, Myles Hansen.
lowed to run in postseason meets, because he was not on a high school team. Although never attending a public school, Stark said his experience has been going great. “I’ve been fortunate to have some great teammates that I’ve become close friends with, and some awesome coaches and teachers to help me along,” Stark said. The only thing that’s been hard for him to adjust
to is the hundreds of people walking around on campus. His first collegiate race took place in Hutchinson, where he was amazed by the other competitors. The speed of the other runners was a major change compared to the runners of the small meets he took part in back home. “It was a bit surreal seeing just how good all these other runners were,” Stark said. “The level of
competition is just so much higher than it was in high school, it’s crazy.” With the NJCAA championship around the corner, Stark feels not only confident in himself, but the whole cross country team as well. “I’m very excited about the race,” Stark said. “The pieces are finally all falling into place, and I’m feeling fit and ready to run fast. Our coaches have been doing a great job of getting us primed to run our best, and I think both our men’s and women’s teams are ready to put together some strong races, and have the potential to end up placing really well.”
Blue Dragon sports schedules, results. All home games, events in caps. Cross country
Oct. 30, Region 6 meet, Garden City, men 3rd, women 4th Nov. 11, NJCAA meet, at Fort Dodge, Iowa
Football
Aug. 28, COFFEYVILLE, W 50-42 Sept. 2, at Iowa Western, L 27-21 Sept. 9, REZOLUTION PREP, W 91-0 Sept. 16, at Garden City, W 31-28 Sept. 23, HIGHLAND, W 13-10 2OT Sept. 30, IOWA CENTRAL, W 42-14 Oct. 14, at Ellsworth, W 25-13 Oct. 21, BUTLER, L 38-10 Oct. 27, at Independence, L 24-19 Nov. 4, FORT SCOTT, L 29-24 Nov. 11, at Dodge City, 1 p.m.
Golf
Oct. 9-10, at Iowa Western, 4th Oct. 15-16, at NJCAA Preview, 8th Oct. 23-24, at Missouri Southern Invitational, 8th Oct. 30-31, at Dr Pepper Invitational, third
Men’s basketball
Nov. 1, FRIENDS JV, W 102-56 Nov. 3, NORTH LAKE, W 87-62
Nov. 4, NEO, 7:30 p.m., W 87-42 Nov. 7, at Tabor JV, W 125-61 Nov. 11, at Seward County, 6 p.m. Nov. 15, at Cloud County, 6 p.m. Nov. 18, at Pratt, 5 p.m. Nov. 21, COFFEYVILLE, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 25, at Neosho County, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 29, COLBY, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2, at Garden City, 6 p.m. Dec. 6, at Butler, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9, BARTON, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29, Santa Fe, at Bradenton, Jan. 3, at Cowley, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6, ALLEN, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10, at Independence, 6 p.m. Jan. 13, DODGE CITY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17, SEWARD COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20, CLOUD COUNTY 5:30 p.m. Jan. 24, PRATT, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27, at Coffeyville, 5 p.m. Jan. 31, NEOSHO COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 4, at Colby, 4 p.m. Feb. 7, GARDEN CITY, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10, BUTLER, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Barton, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17, COWLEY, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21, at Allen County, 8 p.m. Feb. 24, INDEPENDENCE, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at Dodge City, 7:30 p.m.
Volleyball
Sept. 1, at Cloud County, W 3-0 Sept. 6, DODGE CITY, W 3-0 Sept. 8-9, CSI Invitational, W 2-2 Sept. 13, BUTLER, W 3-1 Sept. 16, at Colby, L 3-1 Sept. 18, at Barton, W 3-0 Sept. 20, at Pratt, W 3-0 Sept. 22-23, BLUE DRAGON CLASSIC, 3-1 Sept. 25, at Garden City, W 3-0 Sept. 27, SEWARD COUNTY, L 3-1 Sept. 29-30, at Tyler Junior College Invitational, 2-2 Oct. 4, CLOUD COUNTY, 3-0 Oct. 9, at Butler, W 3-1 Oct. 11, BARTON, W 3-1 Oct. 13-14, at MSU-West Plains Grizzly Classic, 2-2 Oct. 16, at Dodge City, W 3-0 Oct. 18, COLBY, W 3-0 Oct. 20, PRATT, W 3-0 Oct. 28, at Seward County, L 3-0 Oct. 31, DODGE CITY, W 3-0 Nov. 4, vs. Garden City at Liberal, W 3-0 Nov. 4, at Seward County, W 3-0 Nov. 11, IOWA WESTERN, 11 a.m.
Women’s basketball
Nov. 1, BETHANY JV, W 81-35
Nov. 7, LAMAR, W 82-45 Nov. 11, at Seward County, 6 p.m. Nov. 15, at Cloud County, 6 p.m. Nov. 18, at Pratt, 5 p.m. Nov. 21, COFFEYVILLE, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 25, at Neosho County, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 29, COLBY, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2, at Garden City, 6 p.m. Dec. 6, at Butler, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9, BARTON, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29, Santa Fe, at Bradenton, Florida, noon Dec. 30, at Florida Southwestern, 2 p.m. Jan. 3, at Cowley, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6, ALLEN, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10, at Independence, 6 p.m. Jan. 13, DODGE CITY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17, SEWARD COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20, CLOUD COUNTY 5:30 p.m. Jan. 24, PRATT, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27, at Coffeyville, 5 p.m. Jan. 31, NEOSHO COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 4, at Colby, 2 p.m. Feb. 7, GARDEN CITY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 10, BUTLER, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Barton, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 17, COWLEY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21, at Allen County, 6 p.m. Feb. 24, INDEPENDENCE, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at Dodge City, 5:30 p.m.
(Oct. 29-Nov. 4) Connor Kaufman, cross country The week: Kaufman, a freshman from Wiggins, Colorado, paced the Blue Dragons Kaufman at the Jayhawk West and Region 6 Championships on Oct. 30 in Garden City. He finished fifth in the Jayhawk West, finishing the 10-kilometer course in a time of 27 minutes, 18.4 seconds. That was also good enough for 15th in Region 6. The season: Kaufman will run with the Blue Dragons on Saturday at the NJCAA national meet in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Late rally falls short for football By Cassidy Crites Staff wrter The Hutchinson Community College football team fell to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the Jayhawk Conference after losing to Fort Scott on Saturday. Trying to overcome a 19-point deficit with 10:34 to go in the game, the Blue Dragons scored two quick touchdowns to cut the difference. Hutch had one more attempt at a game winning drive, but were unable to get the first down. Fort Scott went on to upset the No. 20 Blue Dragons 29-24 at Gowans Stadium. The Blue Dragons fall for the third straight conference game, while Fort Scott improves to 4-5 on the season and 2-4 in the conference. The Blue Dragon offense finally started to come alive after Fort Scott took a 29-10 lead with 10:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. See Football, Page 5